Moreover, the drilling pulled up results which were unexpected given the company’s geophysical interpretation of what was there.

Encounter was testing for a first reductant unit within the Neoproterozoic sequence at an important structural location on the western section of what was known to be a copper-mineralised basin.

However, they intersected mineralisation in the basement rocks in a ‘flat-lying unconformity’ below the sequence in question, suggesting that a different type of deposit might be yielded here.

In particular, the company has noted the geophysical similarity of what they’ve found to Barrick Gold Corporation’s Lumwama copper deposit in Zambia, as well as the presence of magnetic features adjacent to the hole.

Encounter managing director Will Robinson said the process of exploration a greenfields project like this was always providing new learning experiences.

“We drilled this first diamond drill hole into what we interpreted was a favourable structural position, at the western end of the basin targeting the first reductant,” he said.

“We didn’t intersect the targeted reduced unit, so we extended the hole to the basement unconformity where it intersected high grade copper mineralisation.

“This provides further evidence of highly charged copper fluids in the basin. Mineralisation has been identified in both reduced sedimentary horizons within the basin and now also at the basement unconformity.”

More geophysics work – including a magnetic survey – will now be rolled out, before another program of drilling in the second half of 2024.

The recent drilling of this hole was also co-funded by the Northern Territory Geological Survey.

Encounter has been trading at 39.5 cents.

The two companies first began working together on Booking.com for Business in 2019, with Serko facilitating the use of its travel management software program Zeno – launched the previous year – for use by US giant Booking Holdings in the creation of Booking.com for Business, which went live in 2020.

Serko chief executive officer and co-founder Darrin Grafton said the renewal decision was a boost both for his company and also a reflection of the achievements made thus far by the partnership arrangement.

“This renewal is a significant milestone for Serko – providing a strong foundation for future global growth and scale,” he said.

“The progress made has directly driven material revenue growth for Serko under the partnership’s revenue sharing model.

“Together we have completed a substantial migration of existing users, seen registered companies exceed 600,000 and completed room nights increase 65 per cent in the past financial year.”

The renewal partnership includes a revised revenue share arrangement through which the revenue share will continue at the same ratio for current volumes, with a new tiered system for higher incremental volumes.

This new model has been introduced in order to allow for significant volume growth at the current commission levels.

Serko has been trading at $2.86c.

Remuera Rise is a premium retirement living apartment complex located in Newmarket, Auckland that was constructed in 2013 and is considered one of the highest quality retirement villages in the city.

It hosts 58 apartments with a mix of one and two bedrooms ranging in size from 64 square metres to 132 square metres.

The complex is eight storeys, offers views of the Hauraki Gulf and the average apartment price is $1.1 million with some exceeding $2 million.

It includes a cafe, restaurant, bar, library, hobby rooms, a gym and a swimming pool.

The Bream Bay Village consists of 83 villas and community facilities in Ruakaka, Northland which have been progressively developed between 2019 and 2022.

The villas are located on 4.7 hectares of land and Oceania has the option to acquire a further 6.7 hectares of adjacent land to develop on.

Preliminary plans indicated 124 villas as well as a high-quality resident amenity.

Bream Bay Village hosts a clubhouse, lounge and dining areas, a bowling green, a spa, a gym and an indoor swimming pool.

Oceania expects the acquisitions will deliver strong accretion to underlying earnings per share in FY23.

Shares in Oceania have been trading steady at 87.5 cents since May 5.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics’ residential property prices index report, which began in 2003, each capital city witnessed double-digit growth.

“House price growth continues to outpace price growth for attached dwellings. House prices rose 27.5 per cent through the year, while prices of attached dwellings rose 14 per cent,” ABS Head of Prices Statistics Michelle Marquardt said.

Residential property prices increased by 4.7 per cent in the December 2021 quarter.

Brisbane had the highest quarterly price gain during the three-month period (of 9.6 per cent), followed by Adelaide (up 6.8 per cent), Hobart (6.5 per cent) and Canberra (6.4 per cent).

“Results were consistent with a range of housing market indicators. New lending commitments for housing rose to a record high value in the December quarter,” Ms Marquardt said.

“Days on market fell and sales transaction volumes increased. Record low interest rates and strong demand have continued to support growth in property prices.”

In the December 2021 quarter, the total value of Australia’s 10.8 million residential homes increased by a whopping $512.6 billion to $9.9 trillion.

Since the December 2020 quarter, the value of residential homes has soared by $2,015.1 billion.

In the September 2021 quarter, the average price of a residential residence in Australia was $920,100, up from $876,100.

The Woolworths-anchored Fernvale Village, located about an hour west of Brisbane, attracted 14 offers and sold for a 5.1 per cent fully-leased yield.

The 2.93ha property was sold on behalf of a private investor by CBRE’s Michael Hedger and Joe Tynan and Colliers’ James Wilson and Stewart Gilchrist.

“The on-market expressions of interest campaign engaged over $450 million in value of offers from institutional and private capital, highlighting the depth of market for Queensland neighbourhood shopping centres,” Mr Gilchrist said.

“There was significant demand due to the asset’s standing as a rare core plus opportunity – an existing shopping centre anchored by a high-performing supermarket, with a turnkey development opportunity providing immediate capital value uplift,” Mr Tynan added.

Over the duration of the campaign, close to 170 inquiries were received, with the Woolworths site backed by The Reject Shop and 13 specialty retailers totalling 5,824sqm of gross leasable area (GLA).

The site’s 1.78ha commercial mall is accompanied by about 1.15ha of unoccupied land, with development approval (DA) clearance for an additional 3,285sqm of retail gross floor area.

“The purchaser’s interest was driven by the growth of the catchment area, which includes a proposal for an estimated 2,000-plus additional lots and significant infrastructure expenditure to service them,” Mr Hedger said.

There was $2.56 billion in value of neighbourhood shopping centres transacted in 2021, the highest level ever recorded for the sector, Mr Wilson added.

“The neighbourhood shopping centre sub-sector recorded 70 basis points of yield compression in 2021, compared to the previous year, driven by growing investor demand for essential service retail investments anchored by Woolworths and Coles,” he said.

While every other state saw an increase in the number of office employees returning to the city, Perth suffered a decrease, with occupancy levels at 55 per cent compared to pre-pandemic levels.

Executive Director of the Property Council WA Sandra Brewer said the survey results were a big setback for the business sector, which had been careful in following government guidelines in the assumption that WA’s reopening would be free of constraints.

“For two years, businesses across the state have managed staff shortages, supply constraints, a total pause on tourism, rolling restrictions, vaccination requirements and mask mandates, under an assurance that compliance would mean a quick transition to living with COVID-19,” she said.

“Instead of benefiting from learnings on the east, we are now experiencing a replication of the economic damage we sought to avoid.”

Mrs Brewer appreciated and praised the state government’s support of employees to continue working from the office. However, the occupancy numbers show that, despite significant encouragement, many were discouraged by other legislative constraints.

According to Property Council WA research, more than 61 per cent of workers who choose to work from home did so because of mask regulations. Only 10 per cent of workers were working from home due to fear of COVID-19 transmission.

“To paraphrase Health Minister Amber Jade Sanderson, we have, in all but name, lockdowns in our CBD … it’s essentially lockdown by policy,” Mrs Brewer said. 

I don’t want to wear a mask         61%

My employer told me to               18%

I normally work from home          11%

Fearful of COVID transmission      10%

* Survey conducted week beginning 14/02/2022

According to CoreLogic’s 2022 Women & Property report for Australia and New Zealand, women continue to have a lower total percentage of property ownership than males, possibly putting them at a disadvantage from recent real estate wealth advances.

The report showed 26.6 per cent of residential property was owned by women, compared to 29.9 per cent by men, in Australia in January 2022.

CoreLogic estimates the entire value of Australia’s home market increased from just over $7 trillion to $9.7 trillion in the year to January, with dwelling values climbing 22.4 per cent, or $130,000 at the median value level, during the same time.

Property price hikes, according to CoreLogic International’s GM Financial Services & Insurance Solutions Milena Malev, may have worsened the gender wealth disparity in property ownership.

“Given there’s a high level of equity held in real estate, if you don’t own property, that’s a big source of household wealth and security you don’t have access to,” she said.

“Property price growth has also vastly outpaced income growth over this time, with the gender pay gap widening in parallel, too.”

According to ABS statistics, the gender pay difference in full-time ordinary earnings increased from 13.4 per cent in November 2020 to 13.8 per cent in November 2021, implying that males can potentially amass the funds for a house deposit faster than women.

“The current discrepancy in incomes between men and women would see men save a 20 per cent deposit for the current median dwelling value around a year faster than women,” Ms Malev said.

“That means men are not only accumulating greater wealth from a higher proportion of existing property ownership, but they’re also able to get into the market sooner than women and start that wealth accumulation in a growth market.”

According to CoreLogic’s 2022 Women & Property Report, males own 28.5 per cent of all houses examined, compared to women’s share of 24 per cent, while women have a greater frequency of unit ownership at 35.2 per cent, compared to men’s 34.7 per cent share.

Men possess 36.4 per cent of the total investment properties examined, while women hold 29.1 per cent. The difference equated to nearly 105,500 more investment properties held by males in Australia than by women.

Co-author of The Female Investor – Creating Wealth, Security, and Freedom through property Nicola McDougall said the research highlighted the increasing disparity between wealth outcomes for men and women. 

“As is mentioned in the report, given that most people’s wealth is tied up in their homes, this means that if you don’t own a property – or have to purchase a unit rather than a house due to affordability reasons – then you will forever be on the back foot financially,” she said.

A new report from the Australian Industry (AI) Group shows despite ongoing concerns around land shortages, supply delays, price hikes, and general uncertainty in the construction sector, February still saw a recovery across some key metrics.

The AI Group and Housing Industry Association’s (HIA) Australian Performance of Construction Index (CPI) improved by 7.5 points over February to 53.4. Any result above 50 indicates expansion in the sector.

AI Group said the indices for activity, new orders, selling prices, and average wages in the Australian PCI each recovered in February, with selling prices hitting a record high.

While the input prices and employment indices fell by 0.4 points and 2.2 points, respectively, compared to the previous month, AI Group said they still remained highly elevated.

AI Group Chief Policy Advisor Peter Burn said activity in three out of the four component sectors — being house building, apartment building, commercial construction, and engineering construction — improved in February following the Omicron-affected contraction over December and January.

Apartment building activity was the only sector to not show an improvement, but even this remained flat.

“Employment grew and there was a healthy pick-up in new orders across the construction sector.” Dr Burn said.

“The difficulties in supply chains persisted, although the pace of decline in supplier deliveries eased.”

He said inflationary pressure was still evident in the construction sector, with cost rises for inputs and wages growth remaining elevated amid surging selling prices. Further, labour shortages were still evident in some areas of the construction industry as employers struggled to fill positions for skilled labour.

“These conditions, together with the rebound of new orders suggest further inflationary pressures in the period ahead,” Dr Burn said.

Further to this, HIA economist Tom Devitt said there were “no indications” that home building activity would be weakening any time soon.

“Homebuilding bounced back as the Omicron wave abated. New home sales are exceptionally strong, up around levels usually only seen during periods of direct stimulus, on the back of the pandemic trend towards lower density housing,” Mr Devitt said.

“Rental vacancies are incredibly low. Unemployment is around record lows. The Reserve Bank has also just reiterated its ‘patient’ stance with respect to any future increases in its benchmark cash rate, as it waits for supply chain issues to more fully play out.”

He said the first signs of weakness in the homebuilding market will be seen in terms of people — and particularly first home buyers — wanting to access finance. Nevertheless, Mr Devitt said this year, the biggest constraint on builders will remain the price and availability of land, labour, and materials, as opposed to an absence of demand in the housing sector.

Devwest, in collaboration with builders EMCO and architects MJA Studio, is offering potential homeowners and business owners the option to purchase an apartment or commercial space in the iconic riverside suburb.

It is the next step in a saga that goes back to 2013 when the development firm first received the green light to build the office and apartment complex.

Construction started in 2014 but was halted six months later due to market conditions.

In 2018 the group settled a dispute with funding partner Sincap Group.

Now construction has recommenced at the site courtesy of new funding from Primewest-backed Centuria Bass.

One Richardson is a residential building on Richardson Street with unobstructed views of Richardson Park, the Royal Perth Golf Course and the Swan River. Buyers may select between one- and two-bedroom floor designs, as well as two- and four-bedroom double-storey lifestyle apartments on the top floors.

The Richardson Centre, located on the corner of Melville Parade and Richardson Street, offers an opportunity for investors and business owners to own space in a brand new dedicated commercial office building, complete with an exclusive lobby.

The commercial facility will have a 145-square-metre cafe on the ground floor and end-of-trip amenities on each level.

Chad Ferguson, Executive Director of Devwest, said the building gave an incredible chance for firms to own their own space.

“The ability to own office space in a landmark building with panoramic water views, in a blue-ribbon CBD fringe suburb, is very rare. Office space of this quality is usually only available to lease.” he said.

Devwest collaborated with Development Finance Partners (DFP) to arrange the Centuria Bass building credit.

DPF Director Matthew Royal said the financing was an example of developers collaborating with lenders to bring projects to fruition in a difficult climate.

“Rapidly escalating construction costs and labour shortages are putting pressure on developers, however, working with the right financiers can be the difference between projects proceeding and not proceeding,” he said.

CoreLogic’s national Home Value Index (HVI) reported a 0.6 per cent gain in February, the 17th consecutive monthly increase in the national HVI.

However, the growth is not going as fast as it was, with the HVI trending downwards since April last year.

February’s growth of 0.6 per cent marks the lowest monthly growth reading since October 2020 and is down from 1.1 per cent in January and a cyclical peak of 2.8 per cent in March 2021.

Sydney and Melbourne have shown the sharpest slowdown, with Sydney seeing a decline of 0.1 per cent, the first decline since September 2020.

While Melbourne was unchanged over the month, with similar results in December and January.

“Conditions are easing less noticeably across the smaller capitals, especially Brisbane, Adelaide and Hobart, where housing values rose by more than one per cent in February,” CoreLogic’s director of research Tim Lawless said.

“Similarly, regional markets have been somewhat insulated to slowing growth conditions, with five of the six rest-of-state regions continuing to record monthly gains in excess of1.2 per cent.”

There have been stronger housing market conditions in Brisbane and Adelaide, with Brisbane housing up 7.2 per cent over the past three months to February, while Adelaide is up 6.4 per cent over the same period.

Regional Australia also continues to record a substantially higher rate of growth than the capital cities.

Over the past three months, housing values across the combined rest-of-state region increased at more than three times the speed of housing values across the combined capital cities.

“Regional housing markets aren’t immune from the higher cost of debt as fixed-term mortgage rates rise. These markets are also increasingly impacted by worsening affordability constraints as housing prices consistently outpace incomes,” Mr Lawless said.

“However, demographic tailwinds, low inventory levels and ongoing demand for coastal or treechange housing options are continuing to support strong upwards price pressures across regional housing markets.”

Since the pandemic started in March 2020, Australian housing values have risen 24.6 per cent, adding on average, roughly $144,000 to the value of an Australian dwelling.

WBHO said in a Johannesburg Stock Exchange filing that it had withdrawn financial support for Australian unit Probuild and placed it under external administration because “project delivery capability … has been negatively affected by unforeseen and severe COVID-19 restrictions” and risk outweighed the reward.

WBHO stated that it expects to lose money from July to December due to trading losses, an impairment charge, and unrecoverable “tax assets” in Australia. Its stock dropped 27 per cent as a result of the announcement, the greatest drop since 1998.

“The Australian businesses have not being able to complete projects on time and not been able to recover variation and delay claims, resulting in material losses in the financial period to date and the requirement for further funding and balance sheet support from WBHOC,” the company added.

In a separate statement, the builder stated that the government’s “hardline” COVID-19 reaction of border closures, lockdowns, and enforced work-from-home had “a considerable impact on property markets as well as other industries such as the leisure industry”.

WBHO Australia (WBHOA) has engaged Deloitte as administrators. WBHOA employs around 750 employees directly and has thousands more contractors working on its projects.

On national security concerns, the government vetoed a $300 million purchase of Probuild by China State Construction Engineering Corp a year ago.

According to a report released today by the residential building industry association Housing Industry Association, Victorian homebuyers paid an average of $40,370 in stamp duty on the State’s median property price of $755,000 in November 2021.

This is compared to New South Wales homebuyers who paid $34,807 (four per cent of the State’s median property price) and Queensland homebuyers who paid only $11,005 (two per cent of the State’s median property price).

“The tax impost – the highest in the nation – is shattering the home ownership dreams of many Victorians and potentially driving much needed skilled labour out of the State,” HIA Executive Director Fiona Nield said.

“On average, every time a home is sold in Victoria, the State Government pockets more than $40,000 – and that doesn’t take into account other punitive property taxes, which will soon be compounded by the new social housing tax announced last week.”

Ms Nield said the government appears set on layering “tax upon tax” on homebuyers, which is putting pressure on housing mobility and affordability.

“The implications of high stamp duty and high property taxes are being felt across the State, and right across the State’s economy including hampering our ability to retain and attract skilled workers, who are increasingly being lured to other states because of more affordable housing.”

“Queensland has been the biggest beneficiary of this exodus from Melbourne as families moved north, where they’re paying almost $30,000 less in Stamp Duty, while also paying substantially less for a home.”

Ms Nield said to make home ownership an attenable goal, “we must reduce the amount of money they’re paying into the government coffers and increase the amount they’re able to pay towards the cost of a home”.

It follows news from the Victorian government that it plans to introduce a tax on newly built developments to fund the creation of 1700 social housing homes, a move that was slammed by industry bodies and is now reportedly in doubt.

Under the levy, from July 2024, all newly built developments with three or more units or lot subdivisions would be required to contribute 1.75 per cent of the projected project value to a social housing growth fund.

The Property Council of Australia voiced its frustration at the tax, claiming it is “another wrong tax at the wrong time”.

While saying the property industry shares the desire to get more social and affordable housing in Victoria, Property Council of Australia’s Victorian Executive Director Danni Hunter said the levy would increase prices for new homebuyers.

“This new tax sends yet another signal to Australian and international investors that Victoria is a high taxing jurisdiction with an over reliance on Victorian homeowners to fund their announcements,” she said.

“We know there is a problem with access to affordable and social housing in Victoria, but it is not a problem that can be solved and paid for by new homebuyers.”

If the full cost is passed on to the consumer from developers, the median Melbourne property would be $19,600 more costly.

The large-scale, 880 Cooper Street asset, in Melbourne’s outer north, formerly housed the Mazda Spare Parts Distribution Centre.

CBRE’s Daniel Eramo and Joe Brzezek negotiated the lease, with the facility being a logical match for AMA Group, a leader in the collision repair and adjacent automotive components sectors.

The organisation has agreed to a seven-year lease with a starting cost of $85 per square metre.

“We are extremely excited about the increased capacity in such a fit-for-purpose facility, which will help ensure increased parts availability to fulfil the needs of our customers nationwide,” AMA Group General Manager – Supply Adam O’Sullivan said.

It is a big commitment for Charter Hall, and it demonstrates the continued high demand for existing warehouse space in Melbourne’s north.

“We are pleased to welcome AMA Group to our Somerton Logistics Centre, a high-profile, versatile warehouse and office facility which boasts an unmatched location and substantial capacity for growth,” Nick Lidonnici, Regional Portfolio Manager – Industrial and Logistics at Charter Hall said.

Somerton Logistics Estate consists of nine standalone buildings centred by major businesses such as Saint-Gobain, Technika and Cosentino.

The estate is conveniently positioned near major arterials and critical infrastructure, such as the Hume Highway, and is only 17km north of Tullamarine Airport.

“The current vacancy rate in Melbourne’s north is just 1.08 per cent and this has begun to drive rental growth as well as a stabilisation in market incentives,” Mr Eramo said.

Myer, Coles, Woolworths, Target, Big W and a variety of mini-majors and speciality tenants dominate Caneland Central, a prominent 65,964 sqm regional shopping mall.

It is the region’s largest shopping centre, serving over 175,000 people, and the only regional shopping centre that can accommodate Myer within 320 kilometres.

The centre underwent a major renovation in 2011 and has plans approved for a 5,500 sqm expansion and development of a new cinema and food and beverage precinct.

Senior Directors Nick Willis and Sam Hatcher of JLL Retail Investments (Australia) have been engaged on behalf of Lendlease to put APPF Retail’s 100 per cent stake in Caneland Central to market via an expressions of interest campaign.

The centre, which has been owned and managed by Lendlease’s APPF Retail fund since 2001, presents an opportunity to own a 100 per cent stake in a dominant regional shopping centre.

According to JLL Research, overall retail investment activity in 2021 will be over $13.3 billion, up from $4.7 billion in 2020, with a considerable rise in the number of shopping centres trading for more than $200 million. In 2021, JLL Research observed 13 sales of more than $200 million, compared to only three in 2020.

“Assets in these markets have very high barriers to entry, and they are typically the focal point of the community,” Mr Willis said.

“At Caneland Central, over 130 tenants are unique to the trade area, servicing over 175,000 people, underpinning the dominance and long-term performance of the asset.”

Link will own a 49.9 per cent stake, while Oxford will hold a 50.1 per cent stake in the venture that consists of five prime office assets in Australia’s core markets of Sydney and Melbourne. The portfolio will continue to be managed by Investa.

The purchase price of the 49.9 per cent interest in the joint venture is $596 million, for a headline price of $1.131 billion.

Link CEO George Hongchoy said IGO is one of the highest quality Australian office real estate portfolios to be offered to the market in recent years.

“We are delighted to partner with two firms that have deep conviction and connections in the Australian market and further strengthen Link’s presence in the country,” he said.

“The Australian economy has been highly resilient and the investment in one of its highest quality prime office portfolios provides immediate scale, positions us strongly for the next cycle and aligns with our Vision 2025 growth strategy of diversifying and improving our portfolio mix in the region.”

The transaction is expected to complete in the first half of 2022 with the deal brokered by CBRE’s Greg Hyland, Stuart McCann and Flint Davidson.

Oxford Head of Australia Alec Harper said the venture has created “significant value and achieved a high performing de-risked portfolio”.

“Following on from the recent investment by Mitsubishi Estate into our Parkline Place project, today’s transaction further demonstrates the continued global institutional demand for prime and highly sustainable office product,” he said.

“Oxford will redeploy capital from the transaction into our prime office develop-to-core pipeline and build-to-rent develop-to-core investment strategy in Australia, where we continue to have a favourable long-term outlook.”

The value of land and property in the vicinity of high-speed rail (HSR) stations could rise by up to $140 billion, with a large portion of that going towards the project’s construction.

The UNSW City Futures Research Centre’s High-Speed Rail Value Uplift: Preliminary Investigation Report, released today, calculates estimated growth – or value uplift – in land values due to the HSR.

It suggests measures that direct economic growth from the HSR towards balancing its costs will let taxpayers share the advantages of rising property values while easing the financial burden on governments.

According to the report, the land surrounding a number of stations along the proposed HSR line on the east coast would see a significant increase in value, ranging from $48 billion to $140 billion, depending on the population growth scenarios used.

The projections incorporated both infrastructure-related value uplift for existing residential properties due to improved accessibility and planning-related value uplift due to land rezoned for residential use around the stations.

The Australian Department of Infrastructure and Transport commissioned two earlier reports into the feasibility of a HSR network, with the second report proposing two lines, connecting Melbourne, Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane by HSR.

It showed an estimate for the total cost of the HSR development of $114 billion, in 2012 dollars.

Professor Christopher Pettit, Director of the UNSW City Futures Research Centre, collaborated on the study with postgraduate researchers Will Thackway and Reg Wade as part of the Value Australia project, which was funded by the Federal Government’s Co-operative Research Centre Project.

“We expect the values to be a conservative approach to estimation and that the total value uplift could actually be higher,” Professor Pettit said.

“This is while still factoring in a profit for the developers after all the external costs, including stamp duty, legal fees and building costs.”

According to the paper, the value increase caused by the HSR and population expansion in the surrounding areas may be collected through a variety of strategies known as “value capture”.

The concept isn’t new – it was used to help pay for the construction of the Sydney Harbour Bridge – and has been utilised to fund a number of significant rail projects throughout the world.

Tools available to ensure part of the advantages generated by public investment include betterment levies, developer charges and taxes on property transfers. The value capture policy frameworks and structure put in place for the HSR in Australia determine how much value uplift can be collected.

“If you were to capture a substantial proportion of this value uplift, it could pay for a huge amount of the HSR,” Professor Pettit said. “You would be looking at tens of billions of dollars just from the residential value uplift alone, without even factoring in commercial, industrial and other beneficiaries.

“Some of that value capture could also be used to invest into housing affordability schemes. It doesn’t necessarily all need to go towards the infrastructure.

“It’s about ensuring that growth and benefits can be fairly and equitably distributed with maximum value.”

Following a 3.8 per cent increase in national residential construction costs in the three months to September 2021, quarterly construction cost growth slowed to 1.1 per cent in Q4, bringing the quarterly trend back in line with the five-year average and below the Consumer Price Index’s 1.3 per cent for the same period.

Rising construction costs come hot on the heels of CoreLogic reporting a 22.4 per cent increase in national housing values in the year to January.

Higher construction costs are likely to exacerbate the affordability issues that already exist in the established housing market.

According to CoreLogic Research Director Tim Lawless, the smaller rise over the quarter may reflect some rebalancing in the index following the jump in Q3, but the company expects residential construction costs to remain above average in the coming quarter as supply chain disruptions persist.

“There is a significant amount of residential construction work in the pipeline that has been approved but not yet completed,” Mr Lawless said.

“With some materials such as timber and metal products reportedly remaining in short supply, there is the possibility some residential projects will be delayed or run over budget.”

According to Cordell statistics, cost hikes are still being driven mostly by lumber (mainly structural timber). Other parts of the market are likewise volatile, with metal prices under growing pressure.

“With such a large rise in construction costs over the year, we could see this translating into more expensive new homes and bigger renovation costs, ultimately placing additional upwards pressure on inflation,” Mr Lawless said.

The CCCI report measures the rate of change of construction costs within the residential market and covers freestanding and semi-detached single and two-storey homes. 

Occupants were equally active, absorbing 4,200,000sqm of floorspace, up from the 2020 benchmark of 3,300,000sqm, driving the national vacancy rate to a new record low of 1.3 per cent.

These are the headline figures from a banner year in the sector, as reported by CBRE Research, with national midpoint yields for super prime grade assets also at an all-time low of 4.5 per cent.

Through 2021, sales of income-producing assets valued at more than $10 million in Australia totalled $15.9 billion.

That is more than three times the 10-year average annual transaction volume of $4.2 billion, and it is more than twice the previous highwater record of $7.2 billion achieved in 2016.

“Demand from investors and occupiers alike drove Australia’s industrial and logistics sector to new heights in 2021, with records smashed on a host of key metrics,” Sass J-Baleh, CBRE’s Head of Industrial & Logistics Research Australia, said.

“Given investment sale transaction volumes had only ever surpassed $5 billion three times before, and peaked at $7.2 billion, the result of $16 billion in 2021 is ground-breaking and demonstrates the strong demand for Australian industrial and logistics assets from local, regional and global investors.

“Institutional investment appetite continues to favour I&L due to high quality covenants in those institutional-grade assets and confidence in the ability to collect income, with multiple domestic and offshore capital sources competing to elevate capital allocation to the strongest performing sector.”

Occupier space take-up in 2021 was about 900,000sqm more than the previous record established in 2020, with the amount of 4,200,000sqm well above the 10-year average of 2,400,000sqm.

Melbourne led the way among Australia’s five main cities, with 2,000,000sqm of occupant take-up accounting for about half of the national total by floorspace.

Nationally, the vacancy rate declined from 2.2 per cent to 1.3 per cent in 2021, following the completion of 1,800,000sqm of floorspace, with a further 2,700,000sqm expected in 2022.

In each of Australia’s five major cities, average net face rentals grew considerably while midpoint yields decreased. Perth led the way on both fronts with a 5.6 per cent rental rise and a 115bps yield decline year on year.

The property research firm said a surprising bump in the rate of property price growth over January saw Melbourne join Sydney and Canberra to become the third capital city to reach a median house price of over $1 million.

This is despite January typically seeing a lull in property sales and purchases following the festive season holidays.

CoreLogic said on a national level, housing values rose by 1.1 per cent in January, with five out of Australia’s eight capital cities recording a modest uptick in the monthly rate of growth.

CoreLogic Research Director Tim Lawless said January’s movements are not necessarily indicative of 2022 trends, but a firmer reading on how the year ahead will look should be possible once home sales move out of seasonal lows.

“The early indication is that housing markets are starting 2022 with a similar trend to what we saw through late last year,” Mr Lawless said.

“Values are still broadly rising, but nowhere near as fast as they were in early 2021.”

He said a pullback of strong COVID-induced government stimulus, combined with the worsening affordability of homes and rising fixed-term mortgage rates, have brought about a softening of growth conditions in the housing market.

A recent tightening of credit conditions and a “surge in new listings” through the final quarter of 2021 have softened growth further.

Over January, Brisbane recorded the largest change in dwelling values, up 2.3 per cent with a median of $706,594. Adelaide was close behind in terms of growth, up 2.2 per cent to $584,296, while Canberra dwelling values grew 1.7 per cent to $906,529.

Looking at housing prices only — so, not including units and other dwellings — Sydney still tops the charts with a median value of $1,389,948, with Canberra’s median house value at $1,032,331. The median house value in Melbourne is now $1,002,464.

Perth has the cheapest median house value of all capital cities in the country, at $555,851, with Darwin a close second at $562,729. Across all dwellings, Darwin’s median price is the lowest at $496,476.

The CoreLogic report said while new listings are likely to trend higher this year, with the housing market looking to start the year similar to where it finished in 2021, it’s uncertain at this stage whether demand will keep pace.

“If inventory levels rise and demand reduces, we should start to see vendors and buyers becoming more evenly balanced in the market, reducing the sense of FOMO that has been a key factor in pushing up prices through the pandemic,” Mr Lawless said.

CoreLogic said the performance gap between regional Australia and the capital cities widened over January.

Over the three months to the end of January, the combined regionals index grew 6.3 per cent, compared to the 2.6 per cent growth seen in the combined capital city index.

The median value of combined regional dwellings was $551,887 at the end of January versus $801,570 for combined capital dwellings.

CoreLogic said the strong growth in regional dwellings had been driven by a mixture of higher demand and low levels of advertised supply.

Similarly to capital dwellings, regional Queensland and regional South Australia led the pace of growth over January, though growth was relatively strong across the board.

This transition is part of the restructure announced in December when Mr Lucas’ appointment as Managing Director was first revealed

Mr Lahood joined The Agency’s board in January 2019 as part of the Top-Level acquisition.

In this role, he was involved with the vision, establishment and growth of The Agency in key markets in eastern states, and he recently assisted in the company’s expansion into Canberra.

Prior to joining The Agency, Mr Lahood was a Director of Sales at McGrath Estate Agents from 2004 to 2016.

“With the appointment of Geoff Lucas to the position of Managing Director and CEO, and current Managing Director Paul Niardone to the position of Executive Director, Matt felt now was the most appropriate time for him to resign his director position and focus entirely on his key executive duties,” Executive Chairman Andrew Jensen said.

“Matt has played a key role in building the business, particularly recruiting agents on the east coast and mentoring agents across the country.

“The board thanks Matt for this and the active role he played on the board and looks forward to working with him in his role as a key executive of The Agency.”

Shares in The Agency have closed today’s session 2.27 per cent in the green, trading at 4.5 cents.